Indians minor league recap: Michael Brantley goes 2-4 in rehab start with Lake County

Michael Brantley and Roberto Perez could be a week or less away from returning to the Cleveland Indians. Let that sink in for a moment: The Indians, who already have a 6.5-game lead in their division, are about to "acquire" one of the top baseball talents of our generation and also Michael Brantley. The second half is going to fuuuUuuuuun.

In other good news that won't have an impact for quite a bit longer, Logan Ice had a nice game for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, while Dace Kime pitched an inning without giving up a run for only the second time this season. Not a bad day all around in the minors.

Lake County Captains 4, Cedar Rapids Kernels 8

Box Score · Captains fall to 47-42

The collective power of rehabbing major leaguers Michael Brantley and Roberto Perez were not enough to help lift the Lake County Captains over the Cedar Rapids Kernels yesterday.

Brantley was 2-for-3 with a double in his rehab start, while catcher Roberto Perez drew a walk in three at-bats before being replaced by Sicnarf Loopstok. The two players will be playing with the Akron RubberDucks over the weekend, as was originally scheduled.

Willi Castro had the Captains' only other multi-hit day, going 2-for-4 with one of the team's three runs batted in. Castro started the season with a strong(ish?) April, slashing .239/.302/.429/.731, but he has gotten worse every month. His OPS dropped to .671 in May, .639 in June, and so far in July it has plummeted to .469 in 10 games.

Starting pitcher Brock Hartson was given his fifth loss of the season, allowing six earned runs in five innings of work.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 5, Tri-City ValleyCats 3

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 8-18

It took a little while for the team to start clicking, but with last night's win over the Tri-City ValleyCats, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers have won two straight games and three out of their last four. The win also sealed their first series victory of the season.

Mahoning Valley got off to a quick start with the two straight triples from Gabriel Mejia and Silento Sayles in the bottom of the first inning. Erlin Cerda plated Sayles with a double two batters later, then he himself scored on a single from Andrew Calica in the next at-bat. Finally, Logan Ice got the third run of the inning home with a sacrifice fly. Ice would also go on to hit a double later in the game, his fourth of the season in 17 games.

Micah Miniard turned in a solid six innings of work, striking out five and allowing two earned runs over six innings, but the Scrappers still went deep into their bullpen to finish the game. Four relief arms were used, including Dace Kime who escaped without giving up a run for only the second time this season, earning his first hold. Randy Valladares was given the save, striking out the only batter he faced to finish the game.

DSL Indians 4, DSL Mets1 11

Box Score · Indians fall to 16-17

Despite some big individual games from Jean Montero (4-for-5), Luis De La Rosa (3-for-4) and Franklin Mateo (2-for-4), the Indians were unable to score more than four runs and were blown out as a result.

The Indians were playing from behind from the start, having given up five runs in the first inning. Three of those five runs were charged to starting pitcher Jhonneyver Gutierrez, who was taken out of the game after just 0.1 innings pitched.

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The Lynchburg Hillcats game was rain delayed and will be made up today, July 14. The Akron RubberDucks, Columbus Clippers, and AZL Indians all had scheduled off days.